


shut off to all, i'm yours

by starlight_sugar



Series: The General Specific [11]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Professors, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-06-01 01:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6495460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_sugar/pseuds/starlight_sugar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We need to move somewhere with more people so we don’t run into people we know in a TGI Fridays,” Jon says.</p><p>(Or: things are beginning to change, but Jon still runs into the same people in public. It's a small world.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	shut off to all, i'm yours

**Author's Note:**

> Rooster Teeth does not have my permission to use any portion of my writing in their content.

“Professor Risinger?”

Jon glances up in surprise. It’s not Matt, which is almost appalling by now. Instead it’s Jeremy, standing in the doorway and holding a flash drive.

“Is that your project?” he asks, reveling in the sheer pleasure of having a student coming to his office hours and asking him to do his fucking job. Jeremy nods, and Jon holds out a hand. “Give it here. And you still owe me a comics talk, don’t think I forgot.”

“Talk comics once you fix this,” Jeremy mutters, dragging the spare chair over from the corner of the room. The wheels make a truly horrific squeaking noise, and Jeremy makes a face. “When was the last time someone moved this thing?”

“I’m not sure,” Jon admits as he plugs in the flash drive. “I’m really not exaggerating when I say people don’t come for advice all that often.”

“Then allow me to be the first.” Jeremy pauses. “Uh. Allow me to be one of the few, I guess?”

Jon has had four students, not including Matt, come in this semester, and never more than once or twice each. It’s still an improvement from last semester. Even if Jeremy is one of the better students, and Jon didn’t necessarily expect him to need or want advice, he’s still more than happy to critique designs. “Hey, good job taking advantage of the resources available to you. Unless you went to another professor for advice first. People do that.”

“That’s rude.” Jeremy plops into the folding chair. “This is mostly just concepts for that logo thing, I haven’t gotten to all of the branding stuff, but it’s something.”

Jon clicks open a Photoshop file and is completely and utterly bemused to see a nice, clean logo. He closes that one and opens another one and finds another perfectly presentable logo.

“Jeremy,” he says. “You know this is exactly what the project is supposed to be, right?”

“Well, yeah, they’re logos.”

“No, I mean you did it right. They’re good designs.” Jon turns around and catches the edge of Jeremy’s frown before it disappears. “What, not the news you were hoping to get? Did you want something else on this project?”

“I mean.” Jeremy sighs. “Okay, I lied, it’s totally done. This is like my second draft and I’ve made two more versions since then.”

Jon can’t say he’s surprised, but he is incredibly confused. “So you brought in an earlier draft of a project that you already finished. For me to review. Because that’s something students do.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy says, with such total determination that Jon immediately knows it’s a lie.

“No ulterior motivations,” he prods. If students are going to reach out to him, however indirectly, he’s not going to let that go to waste.

“None.”

“None at all?”

“I wanted to see Matt,” Jeremy blurts out, and immediately drops his head into his hands. “Fuck me, I didn’t mean to say that, and now I’m swearing at a professor, this is a new low.”

Jon has to stifle a laugh. “Okay, first of all, the cursing ship sailed as soon as you called me a dickstick, so don’t worry about that. Students have sworn at me before.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just.” Jeremy flaps a hand at him. “I’m kind of having a moment, it’s not about you, don’t worry.”

“You’re having your moment in my office,” Jon points out, pretty reasonably in his opinion. “I think I’m well within my rights to be a little worried.”

Jeremy sighs and drops his hands to his lap, still looking down. “I didn’t even know Matt went to the university until I came in here and saw him. I figured this would be the best shot of running into him again.”

“You could just text him, or use Facebook or something.”

“Nobody uses Facebook anymore, Professor Risinger.”

“Snapchat, then,” Jon says. “Twitter. Yik Yak. Whatever the kids are on these days. It’s probably a little more direct than this.”

“But I don’t-” Jeremy sighs again. “Look, this doesn’t make any sense, but it’d be easier if I could pretend it was a coincidence. Trying to fix things is trying too hard.”

“But you are trying to fix things.”

“I said it didn’t make any sense.”

It does make sense, is the thing. Jon doesn’t know the specifics, and he doesn’t need to know, but he does know how it feels to be incapable of starting an important conversation. The power of coincidence could’ve been a stronger catalyst than any intentions, or at least that’s how it would seem to Matt. It may not have the same meaning, but it still means something.

“Don’t feel like there’s nothing you can do,” he says instead.

Jeremy gives him a sidelong look. “There’s not much.”

Jon shrugs. “Look, it’s not my place to give you life advice, but it’s gonna be easier if you talk to him. Even if you have to be uncool and go out of your way to actually talk to him. Say something at a rehearsal, or get his number from Ben. It’s worth a shot.”

“What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?”

“Then that’s on him, and not even running into him by fake coincidence would help.”

Slowly, Jeremy nods. “Thanks, Professor Risinger.”

Jon wonders if this advice hour is what he’s missing out on by not having students coming to his office hours. He’s not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

“Anytime,” he says. “But seriously, you owe me an X-Men conversation.”

Jeremy stretches in his chair, looking a lot more relaxed now. “I don’t have anywhere to be for a while. Let’s do it.” He points at the autographed comic cover, still mounted on the wall. “Let’s start there. I’m guessing that’s one of your favorites, but what do you think the worst thing Claremont has ever written is?”

Jon can’t help but lean forward. Jeremy has no idea what can of worms he’s just opened, but hell, it’s only so often he gets to talk comics with someone who knows comics. “Have you ever heard of New Exiles?”

.

From: Chris (10:17 AM)   
you know what we haven’t done in a while?

From: Chris (10:23 AM)   
do you know jon?

From: Chris (10:35 AM)   
you’re probably teaching right now so i’ll just tell you

From: Chris (10:35 AM)   
we haven’t had a movie night in a long time

From: Chris (10:51 AM)   
i may be dating aaron and barb but i want you to know you’re still my third favorite person i see regularly and i want to spend time with you

From: Chris (11:19 AM)   
seriously though we should have a movie night

From: Chris (11:40 AM)   
jon there’s no way you’re still teaching are you just ignoring me :(

.

From: Barb (11:45 AM)   
Why did Chris just text me that you don’t love him anymore

From: Barb (11:45 AM)   
What have you done you monster

To: Barb (11:54 AM)   
What the fuck, I haven’t done anything?

.

To: Chris (11:55 AM)   
Chris, holy shit, remember that faculty meeting I was talking about this morning?

From: Chris (11:56 AM)   
oh. right

From: Chris (11:56 AM)   
so what do you wanna watch for our movie night?

.

Movie nights are the closest Jon and Chris ever get to organized affairs. It really has been too long since they had one, but Jon still knows how the system works by heart. Chris orders the pizzas, Jon gets the appropriate amount of pillows and blankets, and they use a random number generator and a pre-selected list to pick the movies, in order to prevent fighting.

(“Why don’t you each just pick a movie to watch?” Barb had asked the first and only time she was invited to a movie night. “Or you could just pick each other’s movies.”

“Nah,” Chris said.

“Yeah, no,” Jon agreed, and Barb gave them weird looks and a list full of romcoms. To this day Jon isn’t sure if she actually wanted to watch the movies, if she wanted to force them to watch the movies, or if she wanted to see Chris cry at the end of The Notebook. Either way, she got what she wanted.)

By the time they’re settled in on the couch and the opening of Real Genius is playing, Jon can’t remember why it’s been so long since they did this. He’s at one of the busiest points in the semester, the play starts at the end of the week, and he knows the film company is gearing up for a release. It’s nice to have this calm before the storm, especially with Chris.

“I missed this,” Chris says, almost like he’s reading Jon’s mind.

Jon still shoots him a sidelong glance. “‘This’ as in Val Kilmer’s face, or ‘this’ as in spending time together?”

Chris shrugs. “Both. Hey, we should watch the Val Kilmer Batman movie after this.”

“Add it to the list?”

“We don’t need the list or the generator if we both want to watch it.”

“Maybe,” Jon decides. “But yeah, I’m know what you mean. It’s nice just hanging out with my roommate.”

“Yeah.” Chris looks at him and tilts his head. “Jon?”

“Yes, Chris.”

“Would we still have movie nights if we didn’t live together?”

“Definitely,” Jon says automatically, because they would, and then he realizes what the question means. “Wait, why are you asking?”

Chris looks back at the TV. “Because I wanted to know.”

“Yeah, but why did you want to know?” Chris doesn’t say anything, just looks at the TV. Jon sighs. “Chris.”

“We’re not going to be here forever,” Chris says, and Jon blinks in surprise. “We’re not going to live together for the rest of our lives. That was never the plan. You know that.”

“Well, yeah, but why are you bringing it up?”

“The company is expanding, they’re opening up a second office in California.”

Jon nods. Chris has mentioned that a few times before, but always as something happening in the abstract future. “So they made it official. And?”

“And they want to move a couple of higher-up employees from the main branch out there, as a sign that they’re serious about making this work.”

That part is new. “Would they move you?”

“Maybe?” Chris sighs. “I’m on the list of people they want to move. But Aaron and Barb and I haven’t talked about how that would change things. And the details are all still fuzzy, so I don’t want to say yes right now.”

“But you still want to say yes?”

“I don’t want to leave,” Chris says, and Jon’s heart clenches at the strange vulnerability of it. “I know it’s a big deal, and it’s something that’s good in theory, and I wish I could just say yes. But there are a lot of layers to it, and a lot of people involved.”

“You’d do it if it were in a vacuum,” Jon guesses.

“But it’s not,” Chris says, shoulders dropping.

Jon bumps his shoulder against Chris’s, and Chris leans into it. Jon smiles at him, because he doesn’t know what else he can do. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“You know we don’t have to be in the same place to do a movie night, right? Power of technology, and all that?”

“I don’t know if I’m leaving yet.”

“I know.” Jon wonders how long Chris has been thinking about this. Between the two of them running around at work, they’ve barely been in the same place long enough to talk, let alone talk about something that matters. It could’ve been weeks. It could’ve just happened this morning. He thinks that maybe it’s a sign that he and Chris should talk more. “Just. If you decide you want to it’ll be fine, and if you need to talk about it I can talk.”

“But-”

“But nothing. You don’t have to worry about this alone, okay?”

Chris hums softly. “Okay.”

“And we can watch Batman Forever after this.”

“I’m glad we can still have movie nights,” Chris says.

“I’m glad you had the idea to do this again,” Jon says, and Chris leans further into him. Real Genius is still playing in the background, but Jon isn’t really watching. Movie nights were never about the movies, anyways.

.

From: Barb (12:33 PM)   
Chris says you talked to him about the job

To: Barb (12:39 PM)   
Yeah, I did, did he talk to you?

From: Barb (12:40 PM)   
Jon, I’m dating him

To: Barb (12:40 PM)   
And I live with him

To: Barb (12:41 PM)   
Make sure he’s okay.

From: Barb (12:42 PM)   
I was about to say the same thing to you

From: Barb (12:59 PM)   
I want him to do what’s best for him but I don’t want him to leave.

To: Barb (1:00 PM)   
Yeah.

From: Barb (1:05 PM)   
Can we go out together after work?

From: Barb (1:05 PM)   
Not ice cream time with talking about problems and amateur counseling.

From: Barb (1:06 PM)   
just dinner or something. to keep busy.

To: Barb (1:06 PM)   
Of course.

.

“Hey, look,” Barbara says. “It’s Meg and Gavin.”

“We need to move somewhere with more people so we don’t run into people we know in a TGI Fridays,” Jon says. He still looks where she’s looking, and sure enough, Meg and Gavin are at the hostess stand with two people Jon doesn’t know.

“We should invite them to sit with us,” Barbara decides.

Jon frowns. “What, no we shouldn’t, why?”

Barb gives Jon a Look, a raised-eyebrow capital-L Look. “Why not? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Uh, yeah, I thought this was our hangout night,” Jon shoots back. They’d gone out for coffee, wandered into an arcade, all the normal shit that adults do when they want to hang out. And now here they are on a Wednesday night, in a TGI Fridays.

“We’re still hanging out,” Barb says. “We’re just going to be hanging out with a few more people.” And with that she leans out of their booth and waves at the front of the restaurant, smiling exaggeratedly. Meg’s face lights up, and she points at them, saying something to the ones that Jon doesn’t recognize.

“Do you think she’s telling them that Ryan’s bad date story is real after all?” Jon asks, tapping his fingers against the table.

Barbara rolls her eyes. “You need to let that go.”

“Everyone apparently knows that story! Lindsay even asked me about it a few days ago.”

“Jon, there’s no way that’s what she’s saying.” She pauses. “Although, if we need an icebreaker, that’s a good story to kick off a conversation.”

“Nope, absolutely not,” Jon says. Meg is now very clearly gesticulating at them as she talks to the hostess, and Jon reconciles himself to the fact that dinner with Barb is about to become dinner with friends.

“We should bring a table over,” Barbara remarks as the hostess leads the group towards them. “We’re not all going to fit in the booth.”

“That’s quitter talk, Babs,” Jon says, but she’s already getting up. He considers getting up after her, but one of the guys in Meg’s group is already grabbing the edge of a table, and he’s pretty sure they don’t need his help.

“Hi, Jon!” Meg says cheerfully, sliding into the booth to sit next to him. “We’re crashing your dinner date.”

“Hello, Jon,” Gavin adds solemnly, stealing Barb’s seat across from Jon.

Jon can’t help but smile. “Hi, Gavin.”

“Jon, you need a nickname,” Gavin announces.

“What, Jon isn’t short enough?” says the guy who isn’t currently dragging chairs over to the newly-moved table.

“Risemonger,” Barbara offers, taking a seat next to Gavin. “That’s a work nickname, right?”

“It’s only a work thing,” Jon says, trying to sound warning, but he can tell by the look of delight on Gavin’s face that he’s about to be hearing it outside of work a lot more.

“Jon the Risemonger,” Gavin says, and looks at the friends that Jon doesn’t know. “Have you met the Risemonger?”

“Good luck getting him to use your real name literally ever again,” table guy says.

Jon shrugs. “Like I said, it’s already a work thing.”

“And a me thing,” Barbara adds cheerfully. “I’m Jon’s favorite.”

“No, you’re not,” Jon mutters.

“His favorite,” she repeats. “I’m Barbara, by the way, and that’s the Risem-”

“Jon, my name is Jon,” he says, because even if they never use his name, they deserve to at least know it.

Meg laughs. “Jon’s dating Miles, who wrote the play,” she explains. “Jon, this is Michael, he’s married to Lindsay.”

“She’s the director, so she’s probably more important than your boyfriend,” Michael says. “You know. Just saying.”

“And they’re both dating Ray,” Meg says, undeterred.

Ray offers him a tiny wave. “Sup. Michael’s right, but, you know, thanks to your boyfriend for writing a play for her to direct.”

“About aliens, apparently,” Michael adds. “We haven’t seen it yet, all we know is that there are aliens.”

“Yeah, that’s all I know too.” Barbara looks at Jon. “And you’re no help, you don’t know what it’s about.”

“Hey, I want a fresh play-watching experience,” Jon protests, not for the first time. “No spoilers.”

“But you’re dating the one who wrote the play!” Meg frowns at him. “Does he know that you don’t know what he wrote about?”

“I know exactly what it’s about. It’s about aliens.”

“I know more than that,” Gavin says. “And Ryan didn’t even write it.”

Jon stares at him. “Aliens! What more do we need to know?”

“The plot, Jon,” Michael says. “That’s generally why people go to the theater.”

“Lindsay is trying to get alien believers in the door, though,” Ray says. “That’s her demographic, apparently. The X-Files crowd.”

“But Ray,” Gavin begins, and Michael and Meg groan in unison. Jon shoots Barbara a look of confusion, and she just shrugs. Gavin doesn’t seem deterred. “If there really are aliens-”

“Which there could be,” Barbara interjects.

“Then wouldn’t they want us to write plays about them?”

“Not if those plays are spreading lies!” Meg answers, laughing. “What if they don’t want us telling stories about them taking over the world?”

“How do we know they won’t?” Jon asks, against his better judgment. Gavin begins gesturing wildly at him, in what Jon assumes is some kind of agreement.

“Listen, man, the aliens can do whatever they want,” Ray says. “I’m gonna let them live their lives, and if they abduct me, I’m pretty sure I get a front-row seat to Michael and Lindsay turning into alien-fighting badasses to rescue me, which would be pretty cool.”

“No,” Michael says. “It’d be me and Meg, because Gavin and Lindsay would go with the aliens.”

Gavin makes an indignant noise. “But what about Ryan?”

“Ryan and Jon would just take over the human world while it’s in chaos,” Meg answers.

Jon frowns. “I would not.”

“Yeah, you would,” Barbara says, and looks down at her menu. “Hey, do you guys want mozzarella sticks?”

.

From: Chris (10:44 PM)   
are you still out with my girlfriend?

From: Chris (10:45 PM)   
do i need to tell miles about this

To: Chris (10:46 PM)   
So hypothetically, if aliens took over the world, where do you see yourself?

From: Chris (10:47 PM)   
is this what you and barb talk about when i’m not there?

From: Chris (10:47 PM)   
leading an alien worshipping cult probably

To: Chris (10:48 PM)   
Good, that’s what we decided.

From: Chris (10:51 PM)   
i’m not sure i’m comfortable with you thinking i’m a cult leader

To: Chris (10:51 PM)   
Chris, you also thought you’re a cult leader

.

To: Miles (10:59 PM)   
Do you think I would try and take over the world during an apocalypse?

From: Miles (11:04 PM)   
first of all, what the fuck

From: Miles (11:04 PM)   
second of all, yes, absolutely

From: Miles (11:05 PM)   
next time you have apocalypse talk please invite me i want to get in on that

To: Miles (11:08 PM)   
We can talk about the end of the world tomorrow, don’t worry.

To: Miles (11:09 PM)   
Really, you think I’d take over the world?

From: Miles (11:11 PM)   
i mean. you’d try and that’s what counts

.

“He’s going to Los Angeles?” Miles says in disbelief. “Who would willingly move to Los Angeles? Why would anyone want to put another film company in LA?”

Jon frowns. “I’m from Los Angeles.”

Miles is quiet for a long minute. Jon buries his head into the crook of Miles’s neck, just because he can. Miles’s arms tighten around his waist. “Sorry.”

“For insulting me or because I’m from LA?” Jon mutters.

“Yes, one of those.”

“Can we talk about something else?” Jon turns his head just enough to look at Miles. “The play that you wrote starts tomorrow night, let’s talk about that.”

Miles groans. “God, no, this is my night off from that, let’s talk about anything but that.”

Jon drops his head back down. Somehow, what was supposed to be a night out turned into “I don’t really feel like going out, do you?” which quickly turned into Jon lying mostly on top of Miles in bed. Jon isn’t necessarily a cuddly person, but he doesn’t think the power of God himself could move him right now.

“Lovely weather we’re having,” Miles says after a minute, and Jon snorts into his neck. “What? It is! Getting warmer, it’s great. It’s going to be summer soon, what the fuck are we going to do.”

“Find summer classes to teach,” Jon says.

“Oh, god, tell me you’re not really going to teach over the summer.”

“Summer classes are perfectly respectable sources of income.”

Miles shakes his head and lifts a hand to the back of Jon’s head, tucking it further into the crook of his neck. “No, I’m not letting you. You spend too much time with your students as it is.”

“Hey, one of us has spent nearly every night of the last two months rehearsing with students.”

“And one of us is on first-name basis with a former student.”

“Who was part of  _ your _ plan to matchmake us to begin with.”

“Touche.” Miles’s hand begins moving through Jon’s hair.

Jon grins into Miles’s neck. “Are you petting me right now?”

“No,” Miles says, which is absolutely a fucking lie. “Do you like it?”

“It’s not bad,” Jon admits, and tilts his head up to kiss Miles’s jaw. Miles hums contentedly and keeps petting Jon’s hair. Jon curls a little further into Miles’s space, not that there’s much more space between them to begin with.

It’s moments like this that are worth lingering in. It’s moments like this where he could stay forever, where it’s peaceful, separate from plays and job offers and everything else. It’s moments like this that Jon loves. He can feel his eyes slipping shut, and he makes no effort to fight it, letting Miles’s warmth wash over him.

“Jon?” Miles says softly, still stroking Jon’s hair.

“Mm,” Jon says, not quite willing to wake back up yet.

“Do you want to move in with me?”

Jon blinks and slowly lifts his head so he can see Miles. Miles’s hand slips down onto Jon’s shoulder, still warm, still gentle. “Do you mean in the maybe-someday sense or is this an offer?”

“Whichever,” Miles answers, unbothered. “I mean, I don’t know if you’d want to live here with me. Or if Chris does end up moving out, I could move in with you.”

“You’re serious.”

“I’m serious.” And Miles smiles at him, just slightly, just a little quirk of the lips, and Jon realizes that he’ll throw Chris out of the apartment by himself if it means life with Miles.

“I don’t know how this is going to work out,” he starts cautiously. “Because if Chris doesn’t take the job, I don’t know where he’s going to go. So obviously I need to talk to him about this. There are details to this.”

“That’s all right,” Miles says, completely peaceful. “I mean, I just wanted to put that out there. In case you want to.”

“But you want to,” Jon says, because he has to be sure. And because, really, he wants to hear it.

Miles’s eyes crinkle at the corners. “Jon, nothing would make me happier.”

Jon doesn’t have words for that, doesn’t think he could find the words if he tried, so he dips his head to kiss Miles instead. Miles meets him halfway, kissing him warm and languid and like there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing. God knows there’s nothing Jon would rather be doing.

“Think about it, okay?” Miles says, practically against Jon’s lips, and Jon buries his head in the crook of Miles’s neck again. Miles threads his fingers through Jon’s hair again. “Make sure you know that’s an option.”

“Okay,” Jon says, his mind already fogging over again. He meant it when he said there were details. There are ins and outs, and he needs to be sure that he can let his apartment go, that living together would actually work, that Chris will be okay. But here, with Miles, he’s sure that these details will work out. Things have a way of doing that when Miles is involved.

.

To: Chris (9:17 PM)   
your roommate fell asleep on top of me so i stole his phone

To: Chris (9:17 PM)   
just so you know. he may be out for a while.

From: Chris (9:18 PM)   
you should play tetris, i hear there’s a pretty good high score

From: Chris (9:20 PM)   
make sure he gets to work on time

To: Chris (9:21 PM)   
chris, please, what kind of a monster do you think i am

To: Chris (9:22 PM)   
also i mean literally on top of me like i cannot get up without getting him up too

From: Chris (9:22 PM)   
You two disgust me --B

From: Chris (9:23 PM)   
Aaron says you disgust him too, are you happy? --B

To: Chris (9:24 PM)   
yeah, i think we’re pretty happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Our title this time comes from [Wicked Gil](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmlsFScrsuI) by Band of Horses, and as per usual you can always find me [tumbling](http://elysewillcms.tumblr.com) and [tweeting.](http://twitter.com/ezrabridgers)


End file.
